Two 19-year-olds appeared in a Burleigh County, North Dakota courtroom Monday, charged in connection with an October 2nd street race that ended in the deaths of two Mandan teenagers. Police say Cameron Schestler’s Infiniti struck a Chevy Equinox turning onto Center Street at approximately 88 miles per hour. The passengers in the Equinox, Taylor Fisher, 16, and Benjamin Moch, 17, were killed. The 15-year-old driver of the Equinox survived, and Schestler was seriously injured.
Prosecutors told the court that Schestler had received a speeding citation just weeks before the crash, and that Sidney Seidel, the other driver accused of racing, was stopped for speeding the day before. Seidel also had a 4-month-old infant in his vehicle at the time, which led to a child neglect charge. A judge set bond at $100,000 cash for Schestler on two manslaughter counts, and $20,000 cash for Seidel. Both are barred from contacting the victims’ families or the surviving driver.
For Suncoast families, this story lands close to home even from across the country. Our roads fill up with spring training crowds, beach traffic and seasonal visitors, and speed is a factor in far too many crashes here too. The takeaway isn’t complicated: the citations often come before the tragedy, and the conversation at the kitchen table matters more than any fine. What would you say to a young driver in your family about this story?
